Sharing clothes saves resources if it means fewer pieces are bought. For garments to have multiple users, fit matters; but they also have to be shared with the right people. Sharing works when a bond and joint identity is reinforced by common use; when a memory is re-lived; and when access is gained not just to more and different pieces but also to the values, taste and sensibilities of the owner.

Loot

"I brought this raincoat, it’s a translucent rubber raincoat. I was in Venice, the real Venice, not Venice Beach, for the first time with the man in my life. This is about 10-15 years ago. We were out separately, it was the first morning I was there out exploring shops and saw this in a little shop and I thought, it’s exactly the kind of thing that he would buy but I didn’t have money and I just though ‘yeah, he would buy that and I like it too.’

So I get to the hotel and he’d been back with a bunch of shopping bags but he’d gone out again and there’s the raincoat. He bought it for himself… but we share it. I can wear it, he’ll forget about it. We don’t live in the same place, so he’ll see me wearing and go ‘isn’t that my coat?!’ and so it goes back and forth. He travels a lot and so [while he’s away] I loot. I had a cashmere sweater that was oversized. He always wants it when I’m wearing it and I always feel I need it, so when he’s not looking I take it back…"